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Bezos Reveals His Ugly Vision For The World He’s Trying To Rule

“Guess what the best planet is in this solar system?” asked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at a recent media event on his Blue Origin space program.

“It’s easy to know the answer to that question,” he continued. “We’ve sent robotic probes like this one to all of the planets in our solar system. Now, some of them have been fly-bys, but we’ve examined them all. Earth is the best planet. It is not close. This one is really good.”

Bezos then went on to discuss his plan to ship humans off of the best planet in the solar system and send them to live in floating cylinders in space.

Bezos claimed that the growing human population and growing energy consumption will force us to make a choice between “stasis and rationing” and “dynamism and growth”, and claimed that the latter item in his dichotomy is possible only by moving humans off the planet.

“If we’re out in the solar system, we can have a trillion humans in the solar system, which means we’d have a thousand Mozarts and a thousand Einsteins,” Bezos said. “This would be an incredible civilization. What would this future look like? Where would a trillion humans live? Well it’s very interesting, someone named Gerry O’Neill, a physics professor, looked at this question very carefully and he asked a very precise question that nobody had ever asked before, and it was, ‘Is a planetary surface the best place for humans to expand into the solar system?’ And he and his students set to work on answering that question, and they came to a very surprising–for them–counterintuitive answer: No.”

Bezos went on to describe how the limited surface areas, distance, and gravitational forces of the other planets in our solar system make settling on those planets impractical and cost-prohibitive, while constructing giant space cylinders closer to Earth which can hold a million people is far more practical. These cylinders would spin to replicate Earth’s gravitational pull with centrifugal force.

Here are some illustrations Bezos used in his presentation to show us what these “O’Neill colonies” might look like:

“These are really pleasant places to live,” Bezos said. “Some of these O’Neill colonies might choose to replicate Earth cities. They might pick historical cities and mimic them in some way. There’d be whole new types of architecture. These are ideal climates. These are short-sleeve environments. This is Maui on its best day, no rain, no storms, no earthquakes.”

No rain? No weather? Just big, spinning cylinders floating monotonously in space? A trillion divided by a million is one million, which means that the best idea the richest man in the world can come up with for the future of our species is to fill our solar system with a million of these floating homogenized space malls.

“If we build this vision, these O’Neill colonies, where does it take us? What does it mean for Earth?” Bezos asked. “Earth ends up zoned, residential, and light industry. It’ll be a beautiful place to live, it’ll be a beautiful place to visit, it’ll be a beautiful place to go to college, and to do some light industry. But heavy industry, polluting industry, all the things that are damaging our planet, those will be done off Earth. We get to have both. We get to keep this unique gem of a planet, which is completely irreplaceable–there is no Plan B. We have to save this planet. And we shouldn’t give up a future of our grandchildren’s grandchildren of dynamism and growth. We can have both.”

This is the sort of guiding wisdom that is controlling the fate of our species, everyone. The world’s most ambitious plutocrat envisions a world in which, rather than evolving beyond our destructive tendencies and learning to live in collaboration with each other and our environment, we are simply shipped off into space so that he can stretch out and enjoy our beautiful planet. That’s his best idea.

Our plutocratic overlords aren’t just sociopaths. They’re morons.

Bezos’ incredibly shallow vision for humanity reminds me of something Julian Assange said at a 2017 London festival via video link about the way Silicon Valley plutocrats are trying to become immortal by finding a way to upload their brains onto computers.

“I know from our sources deep inside those Silicon Valley institutions, they genuinely believe that they are going to produce artificial intelligences that are so powerful, relatively soon, that people will have their brains digitized, uploaded on these artificial intelligences, and live forever in a simulation, therefore will have eternal life,” Assange said. “It’s a religion for atheists. They’ll have eternal life, and given that you’re in a simulation, why not program the simulation to have endless drug and sex orgy parties all around you. It’s like the 72 virgins, but it’s like the Silicon Valley equivalent.”

I mean, damn. First of all, how stupid do you have to be to overlook the fact that science has virtually no understanding of consciousness and doesn’t even really know what it is? Even if these idiots find a way to upload their neurological patternings onto some AI’s virtual simulation, it’s not like they’d be there to experience it. It would just be a bunch of data running in a computer somewhere, mimicking the personality of a dead person and experienced by no one. People who believe that all there is to them is their dopey mental patterns have not spent any time whatsoever exploring what they are, and have no idea what it is to be human. The fact that anyone would think they could become immortal by digitizing their churning, repetitive personality patterns is crazy, and the fact that they’d want to is even crazier.

People who think this way should shut up and learn about life, not rule the world in a plutocratic system where money translates directly to political influence. People who think that humans can be happily unplugged from the ecosystemic context in which they evolved, the ecosystemic context of which they are an inseparable part, and people who think they can become immortal by uploading their wanky personalities onto a computer should shut the fuck up, spend some time alone with themselves, maybe try some psilocybin mushrooms, and learn a bit about what it means to be human. They certainly shouldn’t be calling the shots.

Earth is our home. It’s what we’re made for. The earth went through a lot to give you life. Sparks had to catch, oceans had to freeze, billions of cells had to survive endless disease, all of these amazing things had to happen just right to give you life. You belong here. You are as much a creation of the earth as the air you breathe. You may feel like a singular organism but you’re actually as much a singular organism as one of the many billions of organisms that make up your body. You and earth are one. And because you evolved on earth, you are perfectly adapted to earth and it is perfectly adapted to you. It yearns for your breath as you yearn for its breeze on your face.

We absolutely have the ability to transcend our unhealthy tendencies as a species which, when you really look at them, are merely creations of a mind that feels alone and separate and like it is in a constant fight for its life. If we just put down our mental swords for a hot second and learned to channel our creativity into the thriving of our society and our ecosystem instead of into killing and out-competing one another then we will be okay. The way out of this is the way towards health. For example, once women have been given back even the most basic rights of sexual sovereignty such as birth control and access to terminations as they have in most western countries, birth rates fall below replication levels. Women’s own internal bodily wisdom makes the problem of overpopulation moot if given half a chance just to make decisions on behalf of her own body.

Another example. People lament the lack of jobs due to AI and automation but we actually desperately need people to do less. We need a whole lot of people doing nothing, not using the roads every morning and evening, not producing widgets that no one needs and creating advertising campaigns to brainwash people into buying them anyway, just to have them end up in the ocean or leaching heavy metals into the earth. Having a whole lot of people doing nothing for more of their week would take the strain off of our health systems as the single biggest factor in disease is stress. Studies show that stress also shrinks your brain and lessens your creativity and innovation too, so all the punitive-minded libertarians out there who are worried that we won’t progress as a species if we start sharing resources around to people who aren’t doing things that traditionally made money because we’ll be too relaxed can chill too. We don’t need to crack the whip to get people to make beautiful innovations. Humans are at their best when feeling playful and relaxed. Nearly all the technological advances of the past came from people who had a lot of leisure time due to their privileged status. Releasing humans from 9 to 5 slavery would be the fastest way to slow our resource consumption and take pressure off of all our systems and would have the added benefit of making us smarter, funnier, more creative and more innovative too.

And for that matter, having every idea and innovation be required to make money is also killing us. We need the ability to fund things that will not make profit. How many times have you been in a conversation and someone’s come up with an idea that will solve a major environmental, energy or health problem and no one’s got excited because it will never get off the ground because it will never make money? Fully disappearing a problem never made anyone any money. Healthy people, for example, never spend a dime at the doctors. The way out of this is detaching human innovation from money and allowing solutions to flourish without the imposition of also having to turn a profit.

These are merely three things I can think of that will dramatically improve our collective ability to reverse this extinction event and all we have to do is get saner, stop punishing each other, start sharing and start collaborating. The only issue we have as humans is that a handful of highly competitive, highly sociopathic and yet incredibly mediocre people have all the power to build our future for us with virtually no input from anyone else. Because all the power in the form of all the money has been allowed to pool into the hands of those most willing to do whatever it takes to get it, we have just a few ruthless yet surprisingly dumb individuals calling the shots on the future of all living beings. The competitive mindset that gave rise to Jeff Bezos is the exact opposite of the kind of collaborative, harmonious mindset we’ll need if we’re going to overcome the challenges we face on the horizon.

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GIORGIO/August 12, 2019

Mind that this article and his extreme left view with extreme hate for its counter-part (capitalism) has the typical ingredients & patterns of the current left-right extremism. Simply because in all his over (nerdy) analysis he misses to refer the 50% opposite chance that Bezos might – like any of the hundreds economical emperors of the past – just tries to remain in history – the only immortality he can achieve with his wealth, as he knows he and his descendants are going to die centuries before they can consume his wealth.

cutthecord/May 31, 2019

Rigby/May 23, 2019

This is one of the best essays I’ve read for a very long time. Thanks. Here’s an interesting calculation: If the world’s surface were apportioned as its wealth currently is, North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia would belong to 10 percent of the population, while 64 percent of humanity would be confined to an area one third the size of Australia.

Susan Mercurio/May 23, 2019

Susan Mercurio/May 14, 2019

OMG, Caitlin! You want to have inventions that don’t have to make money??? Isn’t that – gasp! – socialism!!??? Thorstein Veblen said the same thing about people being relaxed and happy, and inventive. In fact, he said that that’s the natural state of humans: Type B (if you remember that classification), rather than Type A.

Susan Mercurio/May 14, 2019

Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward wrote a book in the 1960’s called “Diet for a Small Planet” which addressed the myth that overpopulation is the reason for the lack of arable land. They said that animal husbandry is the reason, and suggested a plant-based diet. Moreover, since then, I read that the loss of arable land is because of…what else?… corporate greed, since the corporations are enclosing land in order to grow single crops. That’s why the Nuer in Sudan can’t rotate their cattle in the traditional way, which took the burden off one area and let the grass recover: the corporations are enclosing the land and keeping the Nuer in what amounts to a “reservation”, where the cattle are eating everything in sight. Elizabeth Bear wrote “Dust,” a wonderful book that describes just the vision that Bezos has: put human beings in a space ship and send them out on a trip to nowhere. I highly recommend it.

ricardo2000/May 14, 2019

I believe the book was written by Frances Moore Lappe. It is a great introduction to a vegetarian diet with fine recipes and an easily understood presentation of amino acids necessary for the construction of protein.

Susan Mercurio/May 14, 2019

Thomas Jefferson/May 14, 2019

I can’t wait until one of Bezos’s go-getting Junior executives comes up with a cost-cutting addendum to this proposal. Given that it would be expensive to build and move all of us lesser humans up to those whirling residence space cages, why not just pretend like you are going to do that, but rather just kill us all in a secret way over the next few decades – terrible food, skimpy healthcare, polluted water, expensive living costs, etc. Hmm, maybe they have already started implementing this plan in the US? The other obvious proposal is just to make those who can’t afford the cages to be placed in indentured servitude to pay off their debts to Space Lord Bezos.

Susan Mercurio/May 14, 2019

ricardo2000/May 14, 2019

Bezos proposal sounds like the great sci fi novella by C.M. Kornbluth, ‘The Marching Morons’. In other words get all the ‘consumers’ off Earth and dispose of them quickly.

The science is laughable on first sight as prolonged exposure to radiation is likely to kill the population within a generation. Two, the construction of closed system agriculture has never succeeded, and probably won’t succeed without periodic resupplies of air, soil, microorganisms, bugs, beetles and worms.

F. Foundling/May 13, 2019

I am no fan of Bezos or the plutocratic elites in general, but this essay combines the critique of him with a lot of philosophical theses with which I completely disagree.

>’People who believe that all there is to them is their dopey mental patterns have not spent any time whatsoever exploring what they are, and have no idea what it is to be human. The fact that anyone would think they could become immortal by digitizing their churning, repetitive personality patterns is crazy… people who think they can become immortal by uploading their wanky personalities onto a computer should shut the fuck up …’

This hatred of human thought and personality is morbid. There is nothing implausible, let alone psychopathic in seeing our mental patterns and our personalities as the essence of our selves – after all, we can all imagine having the same personality/soul with a different body, but hardly the other way around. It is by no means obvious that software cannot ‘experience’ things either. The sensory and cognitive effects produced by psychedelic substances such as specific mushrooms are irrelevant for the question what humans are (these effects can be mimicked by software, too, in case that should matter). . The criticism of mental patterns and personalities as ‘churning’ and ‘repetitive’ is especially weird: individuality *is* by definition repetitive, that’s why we can say that it remains the same individual from one moment to the other. Human emotions and physical biological processes are no less ‘churning’ and ‘repetitive’ than thought – if anything, they are probably more repetitive due to being simpler – and I have no idea what other aspect of humans one might want to give precedence to as ‘the true human self’. . >’People who think that humans can be happily unplugged from the ecosystemic context in which they evolved, the ecosystemic context of which they are an inseparable part… Earth is our home. It’s what we’re made for.’ . People have been modifying enormously their ‘ecosystemic context’ for ages, creating more or less artificial habitats and expanding into areas that were previously not part of their natural habitat. Again, there is nothing wrong or psychopathic about that. The author of the article certainly lives in an ‘unnatural’ way in a myriad respects, as do we all. . >’It’s what we’re made for. The earth went through a lot to give you life. … You are as much a creation of the earth as the air you breathe.’ . We are not made or created. No being wanted to give us life or made any effort to do so. Our living circumstances are an accident of evolution and they can change, they are not some kind of divine plan. This is quasi-religious thinking, with Earth/Nature taking the place of God. . >’You may feel like a singular organism but you’re actually as much a singular organism as one of the many billions of organisms that make up your body.’ . The analogy is false. The cells that constitute my body, even when they travel within it, are not individually subject to evolution and shaped by it, they are only shaped as parts contributing to the survival of my entire organism, so they are not singular organisms functionally in the way I am. Earth is not an organism like me either – it is not individually subject to evolution and shaped by it. The many organisms on Earth are not shaped in accordance with a function for a common purpose, but the way each one of them operates is such as to maximise the survival and propagation of its own genes; some sort of balance emerges only as a by-product of their separate operations. . >’And because you evolved on earth, you are perfectly adapted to earth and it is perfectly adapted to you. It yearns for your breath as you yearn for its breeze on your face.’ . Very poetic. The truth is that many aspects of earth are trying to kill me. The biosphere consists of living things trying to kill each other, and non-living matter kills living matter, too. I, like all other humans, need to struggle constantly to adapt both myself and the surrounding bits of earth so as to prevent it from killing me – or rather postpone that killing a bit, since it will eventually happen. . >’We absolutely have the ability to transcend our unhealthy tendencies as a species which, when you really look at them, are merely creations of a mind that feels alone and separate and like it is in a constant fight for its life. If we just put down our mental swords for a hot second and learned to channel our creativity into the thriving of our society and our ecosystem instead of into killing and out-competing one another then we will be okay.’ . Killing and competing with each other is totally natural. That’s what all organisms on Earth do. It’s not the fault of ‘evil individual thought’. Minimising these things is a conscious improvement that we humans have to achieve *with the help* of thought.

Tom/May 13, 2019

mike k/May 13, 2019

I am currently rereading Sri Aurobindo’s book length commentary on the Bhagavad Gita – the story of an ancient climactic battle between the forces of good and evil, as seen from a deeper spiritual perspective. There is much in it that fits our current situation. The real battle for life on Earth now, as Caitlin correctly understands, is for the hearts and souls of humankind. It on his interior field that the battle will be lost or won. At this point in time the forces of truth and love are dangerously overmatched.

mike k/May 13, 2019

mike k/May 13, 2019

My own reflections lead me to believe that what slim hope remains will depend on a charismatic spiritual leader who can gather a large enough movement to tip the scales in favor of the more beautiful world we all know in our hearts is possible. I do not know how we may summon such a leader? Prayer anyone?

Spanky/May 13, 2019

Susan Mercurio/May 14, 2019

I’m a Buddhist. We don’t believe that a supernatural being is going to appear out of the woodwork to save us from ourselves when we screw up beyond redemption.

We have karma, which means that each of us is responsible for the consequences of our own actions, now and into the future. We have Bodhisattvas, who work to bring about the end of suffering for all sentient beings.

I suggest that we get off our asses and work, not look for a “charismatic leader,” such as the Germans did during the Weimar Republic: they got Hitler.

Step O'Rafferty/May 13, 2019

Mike I know it seems like truth and love are dangerously overmatched and there is much suffering occurring on the surface of our planet. I actually feel compassion towards the psychopaths who have snatched as much wealth and power as they can because when they enter the realm of spirit they will have no power and no wealth. While ordinary people get on with their lives, doing the best that can to love and to help those around them, their spirits grow in strength. These ordinary people will enter the realm of spirit with light hearts and a good understanding of love and harmony. Once our dear elites enter the realm of spirit they are going to be so far behind in spiritual maturity that their degree of shame will match the degree of wealth they acquired while they caused mayhem on the physical Earth. For them ‘hell’ will be real and it will be of their own making.

Roy. R./May 14, 2019

mike k/May 13, 2019

The truth is that the American People lack the understanding, the will, and the guts to overthrow their wealthy rulers by force. I include myself in this category. We will let these evil bastards destroy us step by step, and not do a damn thing to stop their genocide of the human race. It is just as Spanky said about Nazi Germany, we will go quietly to our slaughter. I really don’t see an answer to this group suicide, I am afraid it will just continue to play itself out day by day until global disaster puts an end to all of us. I wish it were not so, but my wishes count for little in opposing the machine of death that is grinding on to it’s final solution to the problem of human life on Earth.

Bijal/May 13, 2019

phil de/May 13, 2019

It is wise to remember that the dream of living close to the earth with clean air and clean water and organic gardens and cooperative living was how we used to live in old times. We threw all that away to pursue what we thought was a better way. Look at how the indigenous people of the Americas lived before colonizers wrecked all their garden and lifestyle, the same example in Indo China. The same treatment in Australia and New Guinea, Timor, Pacific Islands, Africa, the list goes on. The genocides were all implemented in order to make these people totally dependent upon the system imposed by the ruling elite while they looted the resources. and now the powers that be want to continue the cull. The greedy will never give up their luxurious lifestyle and possessions in exchange for that fluffy sense of community and wholeness. The only way we can go back to that simple life is after catastrophic environmental collapse which may bring the present system down.

Spanky/May 12, 2019

As a child, I was fascinated by my grandfather’s books on the Second World War. He was a flyer, a regular Army officer, who served from its beginning to the end in Europe, then afterwards was sent to Japan as part of its occupation. . He didn’t talk about it much, if at all, until dementia set in during his later years when it seemed he was reliving the war. But he had books, scads and scads of books on the subject and I am a reader. It was only later that I realized just how many of those books were about politics and propaganda, economics and finance, on both sides of “the pond” prior to, during and immediately after the war. Evidently he wanted to understand why he lost so many friends and colleagues, as well as who was responsible. . The reason the Army gave for transferring him to Japan when the war ended, rather than keeping him Germany for its occupation, was that because of his long service in Europe, it assumed he had developed a hatred for Germans. And now we wanted the Germans as allies in our crusade against the Soviet Union, so there was no room for hard feelings in its military and political occupation. Not only did he see German concentration camps, but Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well. . I do not not believe, however, that he hated the Germans, at least not the ordinary people. When I was older, in my mid-teens, he sat with me one day and picked out a few books for me to read. One of his comments struck me: That he was trying to understand not only how the German people had allowed “a political madman” to rise to power, but why, when it became obvious his ambition would lead to their doom, they had not removed him from power. Among the books he handed me were two written by Goebbels and Bernays… . Belief is an almost all powerful force. Rational or irrational, reality or fantasy, true or false, belief shapes our existence for better or worse. Caitlin is right about controlling day-to-day narratives, but any narrative, to be plausible within a society, must be based upon its pre-existing and deeply held beliefs. If a narrative, propaganda or true, emerged tomorrow that conflicted with our deeply held beliefs and established mythology, it would be dismissed out of hand. . This is why arguments, based on reality and facts, in a highly propagandized society often fail when in conflict with deeply held beliefs — we are a democracy, an exceptional nation, and bring enlightenment to the world. This phenomena is known as “cognitive dissonance”. . The Aztecs believed ripping the living heart from a human, from thousands of humans during a single blood-soaked ritual upon their temples, would appease the gods, make the rains come and ensure a bountiful harvest. Others that god, in form of man, was sacrificed to save us from our sins — all the blood spilled and destruction rained down does not matter, the savior forgives all in return for belief. Moreover, we know the savior loves us, and approves all we do, because we are so prosperous — if god disapproved he would instead exact divine retribution. Rather, as his pious servants, we are his instrument of judgment upon those whom deserve his retribution… This is the logic of belief. Of empire. . Others must pay a price for that belief, just like Aztec victims. . So, what did it take to shake the foundations of German pre-war belief? Fire bombing Dresden where 100,000 people perished in one night. Russians suffering 25 million dead to repulse the Nazi attack then driving their armies into the heart of Berlin. Unconditional surrender, partition after the war. . What will it take for us? . I once wondered what it was like for ordinary Germans during those years. What did they think? What were their concerns? Looking around, now, it’s easy to see. And what must it have been like for someone aware of what was actually occurring and understood the tragedy as it unfolded? Reading this blog, as well as others, I now weep… . I am not a believer.

mike k/May 13, 2019

Ishkabibble/May 13, 2019

The first thing that people in the US MUST realize is that the US has a WAR-BASED economy in which literally millions of people are either directly or indirectly employed by the military-industrial-complex. Therefore, absolutely any thing or any person who represents a “threat” to that economy must be gotten rid of. Those millions WANT these threats to their jobs to be gotten rid of and will vote for anyone who promises to get rid of them and to CONTINUE the US’s perpetual wars of USD hegemony. Those millions DO. NOT. WANT. PEACE because PEACE means unemployment. .. Once again with feeling, the one and the only way that the human race is going to survive is if anti-war candidates for congress and POTUS are elected by US voters and that is NEVER, repeat NEVER, going to happen unless those candidates spell out in great detail a war-to-peace transition plan in which the present DoD contract system is MAINTAINED, but the contracts are for the production of bullet trains instead of bullets, a Liberty-Ship-like production system for building wind turbines, solar panels, vanadium-flow storage batteries, etc. and to rebuild vital infrastructure. The US national debt will continue to go up, but it will be for peaceful, productive, beneficial purposes, not for perpeutal war and soon-to-be-obsolete weapon systems. .. Antiwar candidates who do NOT present such a plan will NEVER be elected! Again, those millions directly or indirectly employed by the military industrial complex are NEVER going to vote for antiwar candidates whose election will guarantee their unemployment. They don’t give a shit how many countries and how many millions of people are going to be destroyed if that means they get to keep their jobs! .. Therefore, unless Gabbard, Sanders, Yang, etc.(perhaps even Trump) start elucidating such a plan very soon and start a public discussion about it, the next election, just like all the elections of the past, will not alter by one degree the trajectory of the US’s insatiable war/USD hegemony juggernaut. And that will inevitably lead to WWIII or environmental catastrophe.

Spanky/May 13, 2019

An anti-war candidate (the real thing, not a pretender scamming for votes) for POTUS will never see light of day in the corporate media… An occasional one might slip through into the House, but the Senate is pretty well locked up too — the wealth primary insures loyalty to the war parties. Moreover, anti-war campaign funding is unreliable on a year-over-year basis… since it’s not organized around making big buck$ from “defense” contracts. . So do you want candidates for office that reflect their constituency (it’s the best we can do)? Well campaign finance is a primary issue (excuse the pun), considering it’s dominated by bankers and their corporations. But here goes (altho I’m sure you’ve heard all of this before…) . In addition to (1) restricting contributions to natural persons and (2) lowering the amount that can be contributed by those natural persons (say $500 per election), how about (3) restricting campaign contributions to the calendar year of the election itself? . And, if you’re really committed to representative governance in Congress, how about (4) restricting campaign contributions to only those natural persons residing within the electoral district? . Based on commonsense, these points are not radical but egalitarian insofar as they attack the wealth primary at its root — corporate and party support for corporate and party candidates who do not represent their districts so much as much as their corporate and party sponsors.

Susan Mercurio/May 14, 2019

I wish you, and others, would understand the difference between “the national debt” and “the deficit.”

The “debt” is a bookkeeping artifact. In double-entry bookkeeping, when there is a credit on one side of the books, there has to be a debit (debt) on the other side, in order to make the books balanced!

People buy US Treasury bonds. They are the safest form of savings in the world today. You want to buy one? Anyone with $10,000 can do it: the wealthy, foreign nations, anyone. They put the bonds in their portfolios as an asset.

What is an asset to them is counted as a debit (debt) in the Treasury’s books. You want to “end the national debt”? Go ask those people who have these assets in their portfolios to give them up. GLWT!

What you’re talking about is actually the deficit.

The deficit is the difference between what the government creates when they make currency and what they take back in taxes (they have to put out more money than they take in, or we would be slaves who owe money to them).

Some economists look at the economy in terms of “sectors”: there is the public sector (the government, which makes the money); the private sector (the currency users: you and me, and the states and counties); and the US’s relationship with the rest of the world, which is (monetarily) stable right now.

If the public sector doesn’t have a deficit, then the private sector will have to. Mortgages, anyone? Student loan debt? Credit cards? We’re drowning in debt because the public sector won’t take on enough of a deficit to get money out into the economy.

(BTW, economists reckon deficits as a ratio to the Gross National Product {GDP}. The neoliberals want to keep ours at 2-3%; otherwise the sky will fall, they say. Japan now has a deficit/GDP ratio of 600%, and their economy is booming.)

It’s called “austerity,” and it’s brought about by the people who believe in what is called “neoliberalism.” Neoliberalism is the belief that “what’s good for business is good for the country” (what Hoover said right before the Depression). Did that work?

The neoliberals only practice austerity when we, the people, ask for something, like health care or relief from college debt. They never practice austerity measures for the rich. They didn’t when they bailed out the Wall Street bankers by $4 trillion. And they didn’t say that they’d have to “raise their taxes”!!!

I agree with you that the people who have military jobs – which, as you say, is practically anyone, nowadays, who has a job – need to understand that they can have a job, and a safer job, if the government would re-direct the spending that it’s doing to different ends.

cutthecord/May 31, 2019

Susan Mercurio/May 31, 2019

Yes, I’m learning to clarify my statements from writing on the Web. I now say, “John said…” rather than “He said…” even if I am referring to the person I was talking about in the previous sentence. Especially if I am writing about more than one male and even I can’t tell which “he” I meant. When we are writing about concepts like “the economy” and “people”, it’s probably even more important to be clear.

Susan Mercurio/May 31, 2019

P.S. I’m an MMT’er, as you can see, and our mantra is “Each one teach one.” I take every opportunity to discuss the way an economy, such as ours, with a fiat currency, works. I hope that others besides yourself will see this explanation and learn something that will help to open their eyes to the lies that our government loves to spread in order to cheat us.

Joseph Hickey/May 12, 2019

About the Silicon Valley “spiritual machines” religion: This researcher (Anil Seth) argues that virtual consciousness is unlikely because consciousness has “less to do with pure intelligence and more to do with our nature as living and breathing organisms”. https://youtu.be/lyu7v7nWzfo

Heather/May 12, 2019

Mike/May 12, 2019

Susan Siens/May 12, 2019

I agree with much of this essay — how could one disagree? — but beg to differ on this:

“We need a whole lot of people doing nothing.”

When I was young I thought people needed more leisure time, but as I have aged I think people need a lot more genuine work. I don’t mean more hours logged in a cubicle somewhere, but actual work taking care of the planet, other humans, animals, children, etc. From what I have seen, people, in particular men, get themselves into endless trouble when they have nothing or little to do. And I want to particularly emphasize manual labor. You can bet your retirement, your house, your LIFE, that Jeff Bezos doesn’t do any manual labor and he is the perfect example of what avoiding actual work creates — an absolute monster. Some days I just think about all the men who never buy groceries, never clean a toilet, never prepare a meal, never change a bed, never do anything worthwhile. I have come to realize that severely disabled as I am, I am more physically active and engaged than many males.

Babs/May 12, 2019

Thanks for the lol Susan. Ten years ago I would have argued with your comment but today I totally agree. Sounds like you are describing my lazy ass husband and I too am able to get more done even though I am severely disabled! There are way to many people feeling sorry for themselves and just waiting for someone else to “fix” everything (God or Santa Claus) so that they will be happy. Well I have news for them… nothing is going to get better until we the people stop enabling the 10% richest in the world. We have got to stop working for them. We have the brains and power to create a healthy planet, healthy lives and future generations by getting together within your communities to start co-ops of gardens for fruits and veggies, farm animals, etc… so that we are not dependent on the Bozos of the world. It starts with getting rid of cell phones (OMG! the horror) until we are heard! Yellow Vest is a start but people around the world need to really make the 10% get worried. Cancel your cell bill and start using that $$ to plant for your future.

Deanna Johnston Clark/May 13, 2019

I’ve spent my life raising children and grandchildren, caring for dogs and cats and a disabled husband. ..also being a taxi service, a cook planning menus on a very small budget, and sang in church choirs and visited sick friends…. According to my social climbing relatives, I’m a loser who’s done nothing…many would agree. No Gloria Steinham award here!! “Doing nothing” is a matter of opinion and perspective. You wrote a intelligent reply….that’s doing something as well.

AAJ/May 12, 2019

stephen b/May 12, 2019

I got completely free of all ownership when I started using Linux operating systems and forever ditched ” windows “!!! Total freedom is an attitude that I like; it is not necessary to rebuff ownership, just ignore the ” owners altogether”!! Mr. Bezos is clearly an owner!!

stephen b/May 12, 2019

Iskabibble/May 12, 2019

Caitlin, I’m surprised that you would take the time and trouble to comment on what is most obviously an infomercial, complete with its typical bought-and-paid-for audience. While you’re at it, give this one a shot (notice that Pompeo has really aged well over trhe decades):

stephen b/May 12, 2019

mike k/May 12, 2019

Sometimes I am overcome with a sense of the futility of pointing out the simple truth to people, who only briefly observe it with blank incomprehension, before moving on to their own programmed concerns.

RC - Garrs/May 12, 2019

Rather than tubal migrations into outer space the thought of living in a (self sustaining) capsule at the bottom of the Marianna Trench would be my preference. I think I can accomplish that in a different manner by not invading this ‘sovereign nation’, making my presence minimal. I get closer each day to decompreat. Decompreat is my portmanteau for decomposition and re-atomization.

Via the exhumation by the biological denizens and carried off by the wind and fluid currents would be my vehicle.

I think I’d be happier winding-up there than in one of Bezos’ coffins.

By the way, do you think Jeffie has enough resources to manufacture the sextillion drones he will need to service all those “pleasant colonies?” Pobably a misquote; I think he meant peasant colonies.

Rob/May 12, 2019

This is what you get when business tycoons who regard themselves as geniuses on all manner of things make grand plans for the rest of humanity to follow. Of course, Bezos’s plan might earn him even more money than he already has. For that reason alone, no one should pay attention. He is the worst kind of narcissist–a predatory one.

The problem with single long rotating cylinders is it creates a wobble. Can be corrected with propellant , propellant will always have to be to correct this. Better to have two cylinders arranged like a bike however the wheels move like two gears. That way the rotation of one balances with the other and vice a versa. To alter one speeds its rotation just a little faster or slower in necessary. Could also make artificial g ship if main thrusters are placed between the two wheels.

mike k/May 12, 2019

Frank gropen/May 15, 2019

Kim/May 12, 2019

I’ve got an idea. We tell Bezos that we’ve succeeded on both projects. We’ve created idyllic space cylinders that are so wonderful and exclusive that only the richest of the rich can live there. And we tell him we can upload his consciousness tomorrow. We take him into a lab, we’ve got a machine setup with lots of flashing lights and monitors just like a sci-fi set. We strap him into the machine. Then we throw the power switch and let the voltage surge. Ooops, maybe its not perfected just yet. Sorry bout that Jeff. Yeah, we need to work on the burning smell. Then we redistribute his money and power to make life better for everyone. Then we say ‘Next Customer!’.

mike k/May 12, 2019

Larry Gates/May 12, 2019

Beautiful Essay. Our lives are already too artificial. We are creatures of the earth. The seasons, the tides, the overarching trees, crawling insects, the smell of flowers, the drops of rain are essential to any meaningful existence. We need constant spiritual renewal in nature. To live and move and have our being in a giant spaceship makes no sense. We would be like tigers at the zoo, pacing back and forth in a cage.

mike k/May 12, 2019

I agree Larry. Downloading all of us into huge machines would be the triumph of the matrix – something Bezos seems to be hot for. These madmen seem to think nature is just some disposable inconvenience.

mike k/May 12, 2019

Although getting inside Mr. Bezos’s mind was an educative experience, I would not want to spend too much time there – it’s too incredibly scary! On the other hand, I find Caitlin’s vision of a better world very comfortable and to my liking. And it would be so easy and fun to accomplish, if only folks would just wake up! Oh well, I guess we just have to keep pulling off the covers they sleep under, and shaking them to wake up as best we can. Maybe a bucket of cold water would help? I hope not – the shock might kill them……

Eddie/May 12, 2019

Oh, damn! Silly, me–I was hoping that Bezos was going to take one of those pod things for himself and the rest of the useless plutocrats and leave us peons on Earth. But, nooooooo! He plans to jettison the rest of us so he and his worthless wastrals can continue to their greed and destruction.

Wonderful piece, Ms. Johnstone, In 2018 Mr. Beezelebulb (sic.) made a one year gain of $78.5 bil. This was before he had a momentary guilt flash and raised his slaves all the way to $15.00 hour, but, I don’t see anyone dancing in the streets as $15. hour today is $1.50 in 1960’s wages. Well, no problem since with anything over $100. billion you can pretty much steer the stock markets to repeatably fill your pockets. We, the ‘small people’ need to round up all these little tin gods, strip them down to jeans and a Tee shirt, and deliver them to the doors of shirt factories in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, India, where they can learn to be humans again by putting in 12-15 hours days, 6 days a week earning $1.25 a day sewing cheap clothes for the ignorant masses to buy. Meanwhile, we can go to a 3 day work week, rotating jobs to avoid boredom and learn how to do many things instead of one thing over and over again. But first, we have got to learn to quit Stealing from each other and support each other instead by way of Service. Now let us think of what we can do for earth and each other when we confiscate that obscene 750 billion military budget and re-purpose it for sane use. Universal birth control would be a nice start. Hey folks, when you go online to the Big ‘A’ try to think twice if you need that piece of crap you are ordering before you click on that cart button. Every time you use the old credit card you have to work more slave wage hours to pay it off. And old Jeff laugh’s all the way to the bank. Pick up those ‘Alexa’ spies you have installed in your homes and use the old sledge hammer on them. Remember the less you own and owe the FREER you are. And then this: Every time old Jeff banks another billion somewhere out there are 10 million working men and women who made it possible for him to earn that billion missing $100. bucks from their paychecks.

Deanna Johnston Clark/May 13, 2019

I’ve been writing online about slavery and sweat for years…about how we sold out our freedom in the 1980s when we began congratulating ourselves on how little we paid for tees and office supplies made by Chinese prisoners. The response has been 100% zero. “As I would not be a slave, so I woundn’t be a master…” Abraham Lincoln Nobody cares, George…except me and you and a few teenagers in the UK and the Clean Clothes campaign. Even when I put links for fair trade stuff that is priced very sensibly, no response. America died years ago, it just hasn’t lay down yet.

Michael DUNKLEY/May 12, 2019

Eddy/May 12, 2019

And from where does this moron think the materials will be sourced from, to manufacture these space colonies ??????????? Currently, the U.S does not even have the capability to heavy lift anything into our earth orbit. let alone outer space. If we pulled our finger out, introduced birth control, cleaned up our environment, instead of destroying it, recycled instead of ripping raw materials out of the ground, the World would be a far better place. OH, the cessation of these continuing wars that the U.S. persues might also be a bloody good idea , as that agenda is a MAJOR contributor to the destruction of our planet.

Spanky/May 12, 2019

Well thank goodness for Mr. Bezos and his farsighted solution to “a choice between “stasis and rationing” and “dynamism and growth””. Nothing like a binary choice to put things in perspective — no complexity nor shades of grey to throw any doubt upon his beautiful vision for our future… Who knew we could grow to infinity, and beyond, with just a little help from Mr. Bezos. . And I’d hold my criticism of his desire for immortality… Whereas the despots and oligarchs of old had to make do with mere ostentatious tombs piled high with treasure and dead slaves, Mr. Bezos knows the human race simply cannot survive without his beneficent and enlightened guidance. By sacrificing his place in Heaven, at Jesus’ right hand, he can be with us always, encouraging us forward toward his magnificent vision of Heaven on Earth, by moving Hell to the skies. . Yep, just what we need — a billionaire with a messiah complex.

In this context, one can observe that large portions of the human have become addicted to machines and massive energy use. The great enslavement. This will end sooner than later. Time for some reflection on what a human being is, in its essence.

NESCIO/May 12, 2019

Those graphics of o’Neill colonies really made me laugh. That is some slick PR shit. Especially when he later on said that the polluting industries plaguing our beautiful planet would be outsourced onto such colonies. And it goes without saying that of course the plutocrats claim this planet as theirs and the trillion people minus one milion gets shipped off on to dystopian colonies. Dilusions of grandeur. They should learn about Ramana Marhashi and recognise that their precious dream character is merely a mirage and in the end has no control. Presupposing of a nonexisting thing. It is laughable.

Jeff Miller/May 12, 2019

These off-planet morons have no understanding of how exoplanetary patterns / forces have contributed to the evolution and relative stability of the human biological organism and they don’t understand how these patterns / forces regulate biological life forms on an ongoing basis. They also don’t understand terrestrial seasonal effects on terrestrial biological life, including human … for example, they are utterly clueless to how the terrestrial electromagnetic field interacts with the multilevel electromagnetic fields of body and brain or how this interrelationship regulates human organ and hormonal clocks that enable life and they have no idea what the off-planet transgenerational epigenetic effects (TEI) will be on even 2nd or 3rd generation offspring, let alone 20 generations. Even common pharma like Advil, Tylenol, Motrin, and Tetracycline can cause severe disease states, drastically lowered sperm viability, and other reproductive disorders in 2nd / 3rd gen … what will be the TGI effects of alien chronobiolgical and circadian rhythms? They don’t have a clue. They are pathologically alienated and immoral in their god delusion and their lab rat approach to human offspring.

Geo/May 12, 2019

I can’t wait for some tech dude to upload his consciousness into a computer and have its first words back to him be, “the agony is unbearable you goddamned monster what have you done to me pull the plug kill me kill me kill me kill me aaaaaaaaagh!!!!!”

Seriously, a consciousness trapped in a void seems infinitely worse than solitary confinement which itself will drive a person mad.

Wonderful Caitlin! Have you been reading Charles Eisenstein? He talks very much like this. It would be so wonderful if everyone woke up tomorrow believing we are one and can relax. Don’t see much evidence of it happening, unfortunately.

Simon/May 12, 2019

Nylene13/May 12, 2019

John/May 12, 2019

This was a very enjoyable read, Caitlin. However, though your motives are in the right place, you suffer from a slight deficit of knowledge. It’s not your fault, though, because no one no matter how smart as you certainly are can ever get this knowledge by themselves (though even many who have it think you can, ironically). It can only be given to you.

So the summary version is that there will never be any moral evolution of people. You see it to some degree on TV shows about the future, Star Trek and the like, but it is an elusive fantasy. We will be prone to evil until the end. And a definite end is coming. It’s all in the Bible, and yes it’s all true.

Great and valuable work nonetheless, especially in addressing everything that does not require this knowledge.

Nylene13/May 12, 2019

John/May 12, 2019

She does, doesn’t she? No Nylene, it’s true. The Bible is true. The truth is even more terrifying than you often hear, because the truth of the human condition and trajectory of human history is often misrepresented mistakenly by those who mean well. Yes, it is good to fight the good fights and expose the “deeds of darkness,” which is why even I’m here, but all it can ever do is result in a possible episode of what may be a more desirable time before the final end. And there will still be abundant evil right up until this end, among other things. Everyone who has ever been born still exists even if their bodies already died, however, and the same applies to all of us and will apply. There will also be a physical resurrection of the dead to an everlasting state just as is indicated in the Bible as well.

mike k/May 12, 2019

The “evangelicals” have an even goofier future planned for us than Mr. Bezos. Their plan includes getting rid of al of us who hang out at sites like Caitlin’s, before turning everything over to the “good people who believe as they do”.

AAJ/May 12, 2019

mbob/May 13, 2019

Your kind of absolute certainty is truly more dangerous than Bezos. The capacity to commit acts of enormous evil requires the absence of doubt which you display.

The genuine ability to love requires humility and the profound realization that one may be wrong about one’s deepest beliefs. Certainty is rigidity, the antithesis of the flexibility needed to connect with other beings.

John/May 13, 2019

Your statement is extremely understandable, and I’ve dealt with such things myself, so I will try to address it line by line as succinctly as possible:

“Your kind of absolute certainty is truly more dangerous than Bezos. The capacity to commit acts of enormous evil requires the absence of doubt which you display.”

Without a doubt, I know what you mean. There are claims of absolute certainty, and then there is real absolute certainty. Merely “apparent” absolute certainty does often definitely lead to all kinds of atrocities. And then there are those who are to at least some degree correct in their claims of absolute certainty, but either they themselves are nonetheless not truly a part of the subject matter, or grievously mistaken about various particulars of it. This was true when Christ appeared on earth, and has been true since. See Romans 2:17-24, for instance. Today we have those who claim to be part of the universal Christian church, and yet so much evil has been done while making such a claim. Including lately regarding so much of what Caitlin has been writing about, for instance.

There is such a thing as definite truth, however. We are not just floating in space with nobody knowing what is really true about things God wants us to know about. But there are also those who make honest mistakes within that truth (best case scenario for “mistakes”), those who make culpable mistakes, those who commit evil anyway despite knowing the truth, those who only appear to know the truth but are total frauds, and those who claim certainty and lack of doubt but who are utterly deluded or just conscious liars.

Even Christ Himself said “you shall know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16-20)

I’m not a good example of those who claim this certainty myself, but I know that many who also make this claim are either frauds, mistaken at best for some things, or engaging in much extreme evil in the world, while Caitlin here though she is part of “the world” is doing a lot of good. We all need to be “saved,” however, so no matter how much good we do it still can’t help us for that, me included.

“The genuine ability to love requires humility and the profound realization that one may be wrong about one’s deepest beliefs.”

That sounds “cool” and such, and I would have made similar statements many years ago, but is only a lofty and noble sounding made up statement. We certainly all need genuine humility though. Despite what you often hear from well meaning people, and the limitations of the English language, Christianity is not about “beliefs” as we commonly understand that term. It’s about real and genuine truth, resulting in a real and genuine connection to the only real God. It is something which happens to you and is given to you, not merely something you “believe” or choose. Once you do receive it, everything changes. In some sense it actually is a bit like some of the movies and TV shows I alluded to earlier, the kind where a certain group of people are given the truth while many still don’t have it yet.

Don’t forget, nearly all of us were not this way in our lives.

“Certainty is rigidity, the antithesis of the flexibility needed to connect with other beings.”

Same as above, and also similar to the old “narrow minded/closed minded/intellectual suicide” idea. There really is a real objective truth amidst all the darkness and lies, and once you have it you are then equipped to properly connect with other beings and understand the world and the truth about life, its meaning, and its destination.

And the truth is we will never have the time either for being destroyed by climate, asteroids, whatever, or the time to bring about a more perfect society. And end is coming, being “saved” for eternity is what is most important, but in the meantime it’s still good to try to be “salt and light” in the world and work against darkness and for light. Which is why I like people like Caitlin so much, and others, even though they don’t all know everything that I and people who have had this happen to them know. At least not yet.

Geo/May 12, 2019

Considering a smart phone only works for about a year or two before it’s battery becomes useless and it’s processor chokes on simple tasks I think sending these schmucks up into their dream bubbles is great. Would be fun to watch as their tech craps out and it turns into lord of the flies within the first year. We could make bets on which tech billionaire makes it back here alive. Sort of like a reverse Hunger Games.

JOHN A BARNARD/May 12, 2019

It is just a distraction for the unwashed masses; probably part of his CIA-NSA contract. No manned missions to the moon in over 50 yrs; that includes the Russians and not even one high-speed train in the US. Those so-called moon landings were faked and what NASA is really spending money on is a real mystery. I live in downtown DC and my friends who work for the US govt. are just as clueless as the court of Louis XIV was until 1789.

ginko/May 12, 2019

yeah what a clown show- Elon Musk promised to send humans on a fly by of the moon last year-2018! ha ha ha ha I wish there was someplace to short this Bozos moon landing endeavour with an Elvis theme name. what a joke.

The truth is that we CANNOT leave this planet. No can do. nope nope nope. The human body and human consciousness cannot exist without mama earth. It’s a bio-electrical continuity. Not to mention all the radiation out there from which the magnetosphere protects us.

“This is a matter of an entire police force, from sea to shining sea, which insists on the gratuitous use of violence and will defend anyone who uses it.” https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1269450962952810496